Gazans Search for Their Missing

Many of the nearly 7,000 people are thought to be dead, held or unreachable

- BY ABEER AYYOUB AND STEPHEN KALIN

It has been nearly a year since the family of Mahmoud Abu Hani heard from him.

The 27-year-old musician, fed up with living in a refugee tent in southern Gaza, decided to walk back to his home on the northern side of the enclave, crossing a sprawling Israeli military zone.

"We just want to know where he is," said his brother-in-law, Ahmed Jalal, who is still displaced with the rest of the family in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

A pause in 15 months of warfare between Israel and Hamas is giving Palestinians a chance to take stock of what-and who-has been lost, as a temporary cease-fire in Gaza holds for a third week. More than 47,000 people have been killed and 111,000 wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities, who don't say how many were combatants.

More than 9,000 people have been reported missing to the International Committee of the Red Cross since the war began. The fate of some 2,400 has been confirmed, but nearly 7,000 cases remain unresolved, and the Red Cross believes more haven't been reported. Many of those missing are believed to be buried under the rubble, while Israel likely detained some without notifying their families. Others disappeared seemingly without a trace.